Atty. Bruce Rivera's Open Letter to the Biased Media Went Viral

An avid supporter and endorser of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Atty. Bruce Rivera addressed an open letter to the Philippine media revealing how the country's primary source of information manipulated the news in favor of the few. The lawyer also cited some incidents wherein the media made some false reporting against presidential candidate Rody Duterte.

Atty. Rivera hits the Philippine media for its biased reporting in favor of some presidential candidates and his open letter immediately went viral after it was posted on Facebook.

According to Atty. Rivera, the Philippine media should report the entire story and not only half-truths because was the main thing and reporting. He also noted that the main reason why he stayed away from journalism because he cannot tell a story without giving an opinion about it.

The veteran lawyer and professor of San Beda cited an incident in Hong Kong wherein the national news reported about the thousands of people attending the rally of Mar Roxas but the reality was so far from what were reported on Philippine national TV.

Here's the Complete Viral Open Letter of Atty. Rivera to Philippine Media:

TO THE PHILIPPINE MEDIA

There was a time that Filipinoes gave
up their lives to keep you free. Remember June Keithly who was the voice
of freedom when she was the last voice heard on radio before it all
went dead. Remember the times when only Malaya had real stories that
people believed. It was just 30 years ago.

And do we still claim
a free press when half-truths or distortions/slanted truths are passed
off as journalism. When news items are editorialized versions of campaign
ads. When I was in high school in UP Cebu and wrote for Tambuli, I
learned that news writing differed from feature writing was the absence
of partiality and bias in news. It was telling the whole story and not
just a portion of the story. Objectivity was the main thing. I knew
foreign journalists who paid with their lives in the pursuit of
journalistic integrity. That was the why I stayed away from the
discipline. I could not tell a story without having an opinion about it.

Newspapers and TV news
programs present the news in Hong Kong campaigns of both Roxas and
Duterte was the pinnacle of my disgust. Kahit konti ba, wala na kayong
delicadeza. I did not comment when you showed the Roxas campaign and
made it look like it was festive while no comment about the huge Duterte
campaign despite the absence of Duterte himself. But today, I found a
disturbing article.

An online article came out detailing the woes
of a Mar supporter who was allegedly bashed by Duterte supporters
because she made a comment that the Mar rally in HK was a huge success
and in the process aggravated the image of the supporters as hooligans
and bullies.

I am in no way defending bullies and aggressive
behavior but if you will report bashing of a Mar supporter at least in
the backdrop of the report, the media outfit should at least report the
phenomenal attendance of the Duterte rally even without his attendance.
Why? BECAUSE IT IS UNFAIR.

She was perhaps bashed because she
told a lie. But the readers only learned she was bashed just for being a
supporter. Lying is wrong, right?Bruce Villafuerte Rivera

Atty. Bruce Rivera's Open Letter to the Biased Media Went Viral
Reviewed by Phil Newsome
on
4/09/2016
Rating: 5